For our family, Memorial Day marks the beginning of road trip season. As summer begins, and the scenery in New England reaches its peak, my husband and I love nothing more than to strap our daughter into her car seat, buckle our seat belts and hit the open road. With our GPS activated we enjoy smooth scenic trips to visit friends and family, sprinkled with side jaunts to our favorite foodie restaurants along the way. Sometimes, of course, our trips go haywire, like when a highway suddenly shuts down due to fire, or my daughter experiences a rare bout of carsickness. I chalk up these unfortunate moments to being an integral part of the family vacation experience, they are totally unavoidable, but easy to forget. In fact, there is really only one part of our trips that I always remember and unequivocally hate: arriving home. Every time we start unloading the car my travel-induced relaxation wears off and I snap into household mode, thinking about loads of laundry, stacks of mail, and, of course, what to make for dinner.

When we returned from Martha’s Vineyard on Monday evening there was very little food in the house. At first I thought I might get away with not cooking until I noted my daughter’s pouty expression, she was obviously hungry. So, working quickly, I pulled my go-to recipe binder off the shelf, took stock of my pantry and got to work on an Emergency Meal. During the warmer months I prefer to make lighter meals which is why I chose to make this hearty salad. It is full of fresh peppery arugula, tangy goat cheese and sweet sausage. In lieu of vinaigrette I merely add a cup of cooked pasta with a drizzle of pasta water to melt the cheese, this creates a light dressing that doesn’t overpower the delicate greens.

Of all my summer Emergency Meals this one was perfect for cooking on Monday evening. I had all the ingredients on hand and, since there were no difficult cooking techniques involved, it was a cinch for me to quickly pull together while a ravenous toddler whimpered at my feet. To make it, I first boiled the pasta in salted water and heated the chicken sausage in a skillet. The remainder of the ingredients were ready to eat right out of the refrigerator, thus all I had to do was assemble the salad in a big bowl. The entire preparation took less than twenty minutes and yielded a deliciously filling meal, much to the happiness of my hungry family. As I ate my helping I realized that the worst part of coming home from our trip was already over. All I had left to do was the laundry.

My favorite way to celebrate the start of summer is with a rockin’ family cookout full of great food. In my household we plan many of these summer feasts weeks in advance, making lists of all the drinks and dishes we want to serve, then compiling recipes to form the desired menu. Since our cookouts mostly take place in either Martha’s Vineyard or Cooperstown we typically make dishes that are influenced by ingredients from the local area. This way, when we shop at the farm stands and markets in the town we are visiting, we are able to procure the freshest, most delicious ingredients. This year our Memorial Day banquet was one for the books. The weather was sunny and warm, my daughter was beside herself with excitement at the local parade, and the food was perfect.

When we are on the Vineyard the main feature of our cookout is usually some kind of fish. Our whole family adores seafood and, luckily, living on a island means there is always a bounty of locally caught fresh fish available at the markets. This year we opted for swordfish steaks for our cookout, it is a meatier game fish that is packed with flavor and worked well with our menu. One of my favorite parts about preparing fresh seafood is that it requires only the simplest of instructions. For swordfish I employ an old trick my father-in-law taught me, I simply spread a thin coat of mayonnaise on each side of the steak, to seal in the moisture and flavor, then grill it for seven minutes per side. Every single time I use this technique the swordfish turns out perfectly cooked and is moist and flavorful. When I made it this weekend I was able to grill our steaks in fourteen minutes and then tented them for ten minutes so they could rest, leaving my daughter and I plenty of time to collect a few shells on the beach.

Since summer is just beginning I have included my cookout menu from Memorial Day below, maybe it will give you some ideas for your next outdoor event. The dishes I have listed are some personal favorites, they are a cinch to prepare and are completely family friendly. As testimony to this fact, all of us at the table devoured our meals and, embarrassingly enough, had second helpings. No matter though, we were able to work it off after dinner with a big family game of badminton, bringing the perfect end to a great cookout.

Naptime Chef’s Memorial Day Cookout 2009 Menu (all homemade)
Roasted Vegetable & Mozzarella Salad (recipe to be posted in June)
Cous-Cous with Pecans, Cranberries and Blue Cheese (recipe to be posted in June)
Swordfish Steaks
Cole Slaw
Naptime Chef Go-to Brownies, with Vanilla Ice Cream
Wine & Beer

I was raised by two gardening fanatics. From a very early age I can remember my parent’s spending hours rambling about our backyard pruning roses, staking peonies and scattering organic fertilizer in the ferns. When I was young I really didn’t care much about their gardening activities, preferring instead to play on the swing-set next to the lilac tree. But now that I am older, and am feeding a family of my own, I have become more interested in their favorite pastime. When we visit my parent’s nowadays my daughter and I spend time in their garden, walking between the flowers and vegetables pointing at curiosities like bumble bees and hummingbirds. Together we carefully clip flowers for the vases in the dining room and harvest sun-ripened heirloom tomatoes and peas for dinner. These seemingly mundane activities are fascinating for both of us, we simply stand in awe of the tasty delicacies that can be harvested in our own backyard. Naturally, as a result, after these trips I return to our apartment fantasizing about my dream garden. In my imagination I have already determined that I will grow zucchini, peas, carrots, tomatoes, sweet onions and eggplant. But, above all, I will grow my favorite, rhubarb.

My parent’s have always had an enormous rhubarb patch in their garden. When we were young my mother made delicious baked goods from the fresh stalks almost weekly, priming our palates for a lifelong love of the vegetable. Our family’s favorite was rhubarb fool, but we also adored her rhubarb crisp, rhubarb preserves, and, of course, strawberry-rhubarb pie. Luckily for me, a few years ago my mother gave me these recipes, along with her helpful notes in the margins. Since then I have made them all dozens of times, yet, despite my impressive cache of rhubarb recipes, I am always on the hunt for more.

My friend, and fellow rhubarb-addict, Barbara knew my history and guessed correctly that I would like this recipe for Rhubarb Almond Cake. It is has a delicious flavor, is child-friendly and takes a very short time to prepare. In fact, the preparation is so efficient that yesterday I Naptime Chef-ed the batter in just 5 minutes(!), leaving me the remaining two hours of my daughter’s naptime to tackle other projects. I love this cake because the delicate almond flavor couples so nicely with the sweet-tart rhubarb. It has a tender, moist crumb and is perfect for pairing with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, or, even better, fresh whipped cream. The best part is that this recipe is so flexible it defies seasonality. When rhubarb is not in season (or if you plain don’t like it), you can substitute almost any chopped fresh fruit you want. In the past I have used apples, cranberries, blueberries, peaches, plums and blackberries. It is virtually fool-proof, you can’t go wrong as long as you make sure the fruit isn’t too watery, so it doesn’t dilute the batter. Luckily for me I’ll be heading back home soon to cut some more rhubarb from my parent’s garden. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it, and to grow my own as well.

Growing up one of my favorite activities was baking with my mother. Together we would bake everything ranging from cookies and brownies, to scones and cranberry muffins. We mostly preferred to bake for our own enjoyment, though, on occasion, we were persuaded to bake en masse, once producing over 600 molasses cookies for my babysitter’s wedding. Under Mom’s expert tutelage I learned all of the important lessons about baking including the difference between baking soda and baking powder, the importance of sifting flour, and how to remove cookies from the oven at just the right time. I adored our hours together mixing batter with the old KitchenAid, watching it rise in the oven – almost magically – to become a moist, delicious treat. In those days learning how to bake at my mother’s knee was one of the most fun activities I could imagine, and, frankly, it still is.

Last week I took my daughter to visit my parent’s (her doting grandparents) in Cooperstown for a few days. I was excited to get there, I couldn’t wait to load up on spring vegetables at my favorite farm stands and clip fragrant purple lilacs from the trees in my parent’s garden. But, above all, I couldn’t wait to get home and bake in my mother’s kitchen. When I arrived she had already prepared a pyrex glass filled with two cups of grated organic zucchini along with two greased loaf pans. From the set-up of equipment on the counter it was obvious she wanted me to make our family’s favorite zucchini bread. And, naturally, I got started the minute my daughter went down for her nap.

Since my parent’s have lived in their house since I was eight, navigating the kitchen for this baking quest was not a problem. I pulled the mixing bowls off the same shelf where they have been kept for over twenty years, fetched the cinnamon from the spice rack next to Dad’s canning supplies and tossed the egg shells in the long-established backyard compost heap. The rhythm of sifting, stirring and pouring on the rainy afternoon in my childhood home was warm and familiar, a feeling of comfort for me that is almost unmatched anywhere else. As with most baked goods, preparing the bread while my daughter napped was a cinch. Mixing the batter was simply a matter of carefully adding the ingredients and making sure they were fully combined before pouring it into the loaf pans. While I followed the recipe I was reminded of one of my mother’s favorite calorie-reducing baking techniques and substituted applesauce for some of the vegetable oil. I know that to some this sounds unusual, but please don’t fret, having tasted zucchini bread that has been baked with the full amount of oil I can honestly say that the applesauce version is better. It is more flavorful and moist, but is considerably less greasy and doesn’t leave any residue on my fingers.

(The view from mom’s kitchen)

The bread baked for almost an hour in the oven and, once I removed it, I exercised an amazing amount of willpower, letting it cool completely until the evening. Then, finally, after clearing my family’s dishes from the dinner table – a habit held over from my grade school days when it was one of my most dredded chores – I cut pieces from a loaf for dessert. As I watched my daughter enjoy her first slice, eyes wide with delight at the tasty treat, I got excited realizing that the day will soon come when we can bake together. She will bake at my knee, learn the rhythm and language of our own family kitchen, and I will teach her everything I know about baking, too.

By all accounts my grandmother Harriet was a remarkable woman. She could recite the Lord’s prayer in her sleep, crochet a baby blanket with one hand, and play poker for hours on end. She also wholeheartedly embraced her community, delivering meals to housebound elderly from the trunk of her Ford Thunderbird, regularly being issued speeding tickets along her route. In short, she was a woman of contradictions and we loved her for it. Many people attributed her near-century of volunteer activity and good health to “solid genes” and a healthy joie de vivre, but I am pretty sure her secret was eating artichokes.

Artichokes are often referred to as the “nutritional powerhouse” of vegetables and, given Harriet’s long life, I wonder if she was on to something. She preferred artichokes over every other vegetable, consuming one daily and serving them to us whenever we visited. She favored eating them boiled until soft, except in the warm weather when we all wanted relief from hot foods. In the summer Harriet would dream up new ways to serve us her favorite veggie, often incorporating them into green salads, serving them cold alongside grilled chicken and adding them to quiches. Her imagination served her well and all of her meals were delicious, but, above all, my favorite was her “famous” artichoke heart pasta salad. Unfortunately, though she made this salad for me dozens of times, she never wrote down the recipe, so last summer I had to rely on my memories to write a new one.

My goal in recreating this dish was to make a salad that replicated hers in both texture and flavor, and was able to last in the fridge without getting gummy. I tried a few different combination’s of pasta shapes and vinegars until, at the end of last summer, I managed to create a flavor medley that evoked the memories of my grandmother’s version. The taste of my final recipe differs slightly from the original. It maintains the core flavors of artichoke hearts and sweet tomatoes wrapped in a tangy vinaigrette, but I revised her formula by adding toasted pine nuts for crunch, as well as some lemon juice to crank up the flavor. I also chose to use orzo instead of fusilli because I find that orzo is less starchy and holds up better when chilled. Since completing this Naptime Chef recipe challenge I have made this salad at least a dozen times. In doing so I discovered that, in addition being great to serve my family, it is a tasty side dish to serve at luncheons and makes a nice addition to any buffet table. Everyone who has eaten it raves about the taste, including my husband and daughter. I have to admit, I was initially surprised that my daughter liked artichoke hearts, until I realized I hadn’t considered her artichoke-obsessed lineage. I mean, after all, she is Harriet’s great-granddaughter, and that explains it all.

Spoiler Alert: Stay tuned tomorrow when I will be revealing the details of The Naptime Chef’s exciting extracurricular summer project, “The Naptime Chef Great Ice-Cream Festival of 2009.”

I am such a devoted lover of brownies, that, I swear, if someone sewed a brownie on a flag I would hang it on my front porch and, hand on my heart, pledge allegiance to it every morning. Last week my kitchen turned into a one-person brownie factory. I am not entirely sure what prompted my out-of-control brownie baking, but once I started, I could not stop. What began as one batch with simple peanut butter swirl, quickly became several batches with variations on swirl flavors, toppings and baking chocolates. In fact, halfway through the week my husband branded this baking crusade “The Naptime Chef Great Brownie Festival of 2009,” gently insinuating I had crossed the line from leisurely baking to serious brownie production. By the end of the week I had made at least five different brownie flavors, three of which were delicious, and one of which was just so-so. Thankfully, I sent the vast majority of the completed batches to my husband’s office (much to the appreciation of his colleagues), sparing me the prospect of spending the entire summer wearing a muu-muu. I did, however, taste test everything before it left the house and am excited to share my favorite results with you.

Brownies are perfect for Naptime Chef-ing on many levels. The ingredients are simple, the batter is very easy to prepare and the baking time is less than an hour. Last week’s baking endeavor began when, using my favorite recipe for moist chocolate brownies, I swirled in some peanut butter. I love this combination because the brownies end up tasting like rich chocolate peanut butter cups, one of my favorite desserts. Inspired by this decadent treat I decided there was no time like the present to experiment with additional swirls like cream cheese and marmalade, flavors I had been meaning to try for a long time. The marmalade swirl idea originated with a recent Giada at Home episode where she swirls in raspberry jam with her brownies. Since I am a huge fan of the choco-orange flavor combination I figured I would add orange marmalade to see if I could recreate the flavor of a chocolate dipped orange peel, while adding slivered almonds for extra texture. The result was nothing short of heavenly, a moist chewy brownie imbued with a light orange flavor and a sweet nutty crunch.

I will spare you the details of the last two brownie experiments, let’s just say they weren’t up to snuff. I promise to share them with you eventually though, once I have worked on perfecting them. In the mean time, here are last week’s “Festival” highlights for you all to enjoy. Rest assured, there are many more brownie flavor variations I adore (mint icing! caramel layers!) but I had to draw the line at some point. Perhaps, when my brownie cravings get the better of me again, I will commence “The Great Brownie Festival of 2010”, but, until then, this is a great start.

Spring cleaning began late this year. The warm weather arrived in the northeast later than planned, leaving me with less time to get through my spring chore list. You see, spring is a critical season for me, without it I would never be prepared for the arrival of summer. When the thermometer finally creeps north of sixty degrees it is like someone zaps me with a defibrillator. Every morning the early sunlight and fresh breezes blast me out of bed, sending me racing through my day, to-do lists in hand, preparing for the hot summer ahead. In the past week I have tackled my important seasonal chores like swapping winter sweaters for summer blouses, cleaning the winter grime off our windows and removing the fleece foot muff from my daughter’s stroller. It is not unusual that, while I am sprucing up my household, I take time to spruce up my recipes as well. After all it is not just my closets that need spring cleaning, my kitchen does, too.

One of my favorite ways to liven up spring menus is by adding lots of fresh greens obtained at our local farmer’s market or gourmet food store. Last week, while I was shopping, I encountered my very first bundle of local asparagus. It was pencil thin, bright green and begging for me to take it home. Naturally, I was thrilled that one of my favorite vegetables was finally available again and promptly added it to my basket. Now, just so everyone knows, I wasn’t always good at preparing asparagus. My first few attempts at replicating my mother’s blanched asparagus with herbed butter were disastrous. I boiled the asparagus until it was as limp as a spaghetti noodle, dunked it in ice water to no effect and essentially served myself a tasteless, murky green vegetable. The good news, however, is that over time my techniques have much improved and my asparagus preparation, though simple, is delicious. So, to kick off the asparagus season this year, I decided to start with a recipe I had saved to celebrate the occasion.

I originally encountered the idea for this recipe when reading Cooking for Mr. Latte, by Amanda Hesser. I loved the idea of a citrus vinaigrette contrasting the flavors of the peppery arugula. I have made this salad a few times in the past ten days and it has gotten better and better each time. I have even experimented with a few substitutions, adding lemon juice instead of orange juice to the dressing, and adding cherry tomatoes for additional color and flavor. Every experiment has yielded excellent results, proving that this recipe is quite flexible. The best part is that most of it can be prepared during naptime. Simply cook the asparagus, cut it into one inch pieces and let it cool. Then, prepare the vinaigrette and leave it, covered, in the fridge. At dinner time you merely have to assemble the salad by putting the ingredients together in a bowl and giving it a good toss, a procedure you could probably do in your sleep. We found that each bite of this salad contains many layers of flavors along with a satisfying crunch from the asparagus shoots. Yesterday, after finishing our last helping, my husband remarked that this is his favorite spring salad yet. I was, of course, thrilled to hear this and will definitely be adding this salad to my to-do list tomorrow.